A Crushing Blow! NRL Say No to
Expansion

The NRL partnership committe today handed down a crushing blow to the bidders for a sixteenth NRL club. The Central Coast Bears, Wellington Orcas and Gold Coast Dolphins were all vying for a place in the world's toughest and most competative rugby league competition, the NRL for the 2006 season.

At around 3:00pm, the partnership committee handed down their decision. They outlined financial insecurity of the game as a huge reason behind their decision. The committee also recommended that the issue be revisited next year.

In recent times the junior participation levels in Rugby Union has increased 53% on the Central Coast and further pushes to have a national soccer team in the area should be of huge concern to the NRL! The AFL will continue their push to add a second team to Queensland and the Gold Coast seems to be the most logistical place for such a proposal. Phil Gould recently slammed the NRL in his Sun Herald column on the 8th of August this year, claiming the NRL lacked vision and had no business plan for the future development of the game.

The NRL is worried about the impact the Carr governments poker machine tax will have on existing NSW clubs. It should be more of a concern that they have clubs competing who rely so dependently on these devilish machines! It is about time the NRL stopped to ask themselves where the game is headed. In a recent poll conducted through the Big League magazine, 83% of readers voted for the proposed introduction of a 16th team.

Rugby League is Australia needs a complete overhaul. The sooner one body is controlling the game the better for everyone involved.